


Lunch Counter

by Kkane88



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, First Meetings, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:26:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23192380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kkane88/pseuds/Kkane88
Summary: Patrick's been pining over Jonathan for almost a year.
Relationships: Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews
Comments: 1
Kudos: 76





	Lunch Counter

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr:  
> [kkane88](https://kkane88.tumblr.com/)  
> [kwriteshockey](https://kwriteshockey.tumblr.com//)

Patrick has to pause outside the café door. He does this every day, he should be used to it by now, but the thought of seeing him- of seeing Jonathan- makes his heart race and his breath stutter. With sweaty palms, he pushes through the door and his eyes immediately go to the dark haired man standing at the pick-up counter, waiting for his black coffee and sandwich of choice. He's proud that he doesn't freeze in place when deep brown eyes meet his and he even manages to return the familiar smile. They've both been coming to this café for almost a year and Patrick's been openly pining for almost as long.

The man is beautiful. Perfectly tailored suits, Disney prince hair, his jawline. Don't even get Patrick started on his hands. And those bracelets he wears. Patrick almost starts drooling just thinking about them.

"You know, for some reason," Marie, the barista, starts, "I keep thinking that one day you'll come in and see him and _won't_ looked like you've been struck by lightening." Patrick drags his eyes away from Jonathan to look at her, blinking in confusion. She rolls her eyes in fond exasperation. "Honestly, Pat, just talk to him. He stares at you as much as you stare at him."

"I wrote a script," he admits, pulling the small piece of paper out of his pocket and laying it flat on the counter. Before he can read it to her, Maria snatches it up.

"'Hello, my name is Patrick Kane.' 'Hello, my name is Jonathan _____.' 'Where do you work, Jonathan?' 'I work at _____.' 'Oh how interesting, I am a business analyst.' Patrick this is the most boring conversation I've ever seen in my life." Maria waves the paper in his face before crumpling it into a ball and putting it in her apron pocket.

"I can't talk to him unless I know what to say," Patrick whines. "What if I forget?"

"You're going to forget your own name?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.

He stares at her blankly for a moment. "Have you seen him?"

Just then, Jonathan's order is placed on the counter and Patrick already starts to mourn the loss of his face when Jonathan does something he's never done before. He turns to look at Patrick for a long second before going and… sitting at a table. He shoots one more long look at Patrick before he looks down and starts unwrapping his sandwich.

"Patrick!" Maria hisses, hitting him on the arm. "That was an invitation if I've ever seen one. _Go talk to him_!" But Patrick is literally speechless. Yeah, it sure looked like an invitation, but _why?_ Jonathan is gorgeous and Patrick is… well, he's short and he's got bad hair, and admittedly bad taste in music and literature. He doesn't have much to offer here except maybe some witty one liners. And even those will escape him as soon as Jonathan smiles. "Here, I'll put your order in. Go sit with him and I'll even bring it out to you."

Patrick lets her ring him up, but he can't bring himself to go to the table. What if they're reading too much into it? Jonathan probably wants to eat his lunch in peace. So he makes his way to the pickup counter instead, shooting a glance to see Jonny's eyes focused down on his sandwich intently. Maria sends him pointed looks and makes shooing motions with her hands, but Patrick's feet remain planted where he stands. He can't do it. He doesn't want to embarrass himself and then not even be able to look the guy in the eye again.

But when his order is ready, Maria marches straight past him and to Jonny's table. Jonny looks up at her in confusion and she says something, turning to point at Patrick. With both pairs of eyes on him, Patrick _panics_. He can't believe she just did that to him. But he doesn't stick around to see the fallout. He turns and bolts out the front door, ignoring Maria's shout behind him.

He swings left once he's outside, heading toward his office building. His brain is going a mile a minute, betrayal and embarrassment warring in him, and he doesn't see the construction workers carrying the metal beam until he runs forehead-first into it. He rebounds off of it and prepares himself to hit the ground, but a pair of strong arms wrap around him from behind, keeping him upright.

"Patrick, are you okay?" a warm voice says, and just the sound of it sends shivers down his spine. He's still trying to get his bearings, everything spinning a bit, and he doesn't immediately register who's holding him. That is, until the arms spin him around slowly and he comes face to face with his rescuer.

"Jonathan?" he asks, embarrassed by how breathless he sounds.

"Jonny," he corrects, smiling down at Patrick. There's a worried crease between his eyebrows that Patrick can't help but think is adorable. "Are you okay?" he repeats.

"Um," Patrick tries to take inventory of his body, but his head is pounding and there's a bit of a ringing sound in his ears. "I think I might have a concussion." Jonny's brow furrows even deeper and he brings a hand up to grip Patrick's chin.

"I'm taking you to the hospital," he states, like he won't take no for an answer.

"I have to go back to work," Patrick argues. It's not like he can't take the afternoon off, but this is humiliating. He just gave himself a concussion in front of the most attractive man in the world.

"Call them and tell them what happened," Jonny says, like he thinks Patrick's an idiot. That's just great. "I'm not letting you out of my sight until you're at a hospital."

"That's a little creepy," Patrick points out, just to try to take the attention away from how stupid he is. Jonny levels him with a flat look.

"Patrick, I've been waiting for you to make a move for months." And, hold on _, what? "_ I come to this café _on my days off_ just in case you've decided that day was going to be the day. I don't care if I come off as a little creepy, I'm an impatient person and you've taken forever to do anything about this."

"Why didn't you make a move first?" Patrick demands, indignant.

"Every time I got anywhere close to you, you would bolt." And yeah, that's fair. "Call your work. I'll drive you to the hospital." Patrick does as he says, but before they get in the car he grabs Jonny by the wrist.

"Hey, thanks," he says before standing on his tiptoes to press a kiss to Jonny's cheek. He looks startled, but pleased- looks like he wants to step forward and pull Patrick in again, for a real kiss, but he stops himself.

"You're welcome. Now lets go make sure you're not mentally incapacitated." Patrick goes to move away, but Jonny stops him. "And then I'm going to take you home and kiss you for real."

Patrick's okay with that.


End file.
